A Day for Jim, and a Tallgrass Prairie I Didn’t Know I Needed
A day for my late uncle turned into an accidental pilgrimage to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, the last of a vanished ecosystem on Osage land.
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Gotcha Day: The Kittens I Was Only Supposed to Foster
Six years ago I drove to Ari’s for two flea-ridden, squinty-eyed foster kittens and never gave them back. Finn and Callie’s gotcha day, flea baths and all.
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The One Where I’m the Monica
Every friend group has a Monica, and in mine it’s me. On being the connector and the host, the love language I inherited, and the chosen family it built.
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My Espresso Machine Wasn’t Broken (I Was)
A year of blaming a “dead” Breville, then three fixes (fresh beans, a clean grinder, a $12 scale) that brought the espresso and crema back.
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Ellis Island: What Came Through the Gate
In January of 2008 I gave myself a week in New York City for my fortieth birthday. Not for work; purely as a tourist, purely as a present to myself. One cold, bright morning, fortified by a bagel from Katz’s, I took the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island with a…
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Friday Roundup #30
Friday Roundup #30: a complicated Fourth of July, a 2008 photo from the Great Hall at Ellis Island, fall brussels sprouts, and Momofuku Bo Ssam on the kamado.
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There Is a Gallon of Mustard in My Refrigerator
A gallon of Maille Dijon showed up on purpose. The real math on buying mustard in bulk, plus the cereal bunker under the stairs.
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Friday Roundup #29
Friday Roundup: A thin week at karacooks: a garden running late, a monster love story up for a Hugo, ten pounds of cherries, and a gallon of mustard landing Thursday.
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Meemaw’s Buttermilk Biscuits
Every Sunday morning, Zach makes Meemaw’s biscuits. Light, flaky, rich with butter, tender, and just about perfect. We eat them with scrambled eggs and thick-cut bacon, sometimes with sausage gravy when we’re feeling indulgent, sometimes with nothing but butter and strawberry jelly when we want simple. Every once in a while he makes them for…
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Maine: A Love Story – Part 2
The gothic half of a Maine trip: a Boston Spenser pilgrimage, a tropical storm, the easternmost point, a Bar Harbor ghost tour, and Stephen King’s gate.
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Friday Roundup #28
A steamy Georgia-summer roundup: dirty spaghetti on the must-try list, Good Culture cottage cheese, the new Nora Roberts, cherry plums, and Kamado-grilled lunches.
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Maine: A Love Story – Part 1
Every fall, Zach and I take a week and go somewhere. Late September, early October, right before the holiday season turns into a demolition derby. We started it in 2019 and it has become the most protected week on our calendar. Tucson one year. Jekyll and Cumberland Island another. A big loop through Las Vegas…
